GUARDIANS OF PĀUATAHANUI INLET INC

ANNUAL REPORT JUNE 2020

Introduction

On behalf of the Guardians of Pāuatahanui Inlet Committee it is my pleasure to report on the activities undertaken by members and the management team in the past twelve months.

Officers and Management Committee

The following officers and members comprised the Management Committee for 2019-20:

Chairperson Lindsay Gow Secretary Helen Reilly Treasurer Stephen O’Neil Membership Secretary Janet Ryan Newsletter Editor & Webmaster Michael Waldron Committee John McKoy Andre van Halderen Christine Stanley Alistair Webb

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Submissions

39 Paekakariki Road (ex Tuk Tuk restaurant site)

The site is on the corner of Paekakariki Hill Road and Grays Road. It is low lying and subject to flooding. On its western side it abuts the Pāuatahanui Wildlife Reserve. Drainage from the site flows into a drain in the reserve. The application provides for this to continue but proposes an intersecting swale between site drainage and its exit into the reserve. The swale would trap the sediment, hold the drainage water and allow some absorption of it by plants.

In summary, GOPI believes that the development proposal should not proceed unless a careful assessment is made of climate change impacts on this and other adjacent sites, and an adaptive management plan developed. PCC has been advised to do this in a report it commissioned in 2019, but that report is still labelled a draft report. If PCC decides not to follow this advice, then any development here needs to be subject to some specific and precise conditions. These relate principally to stormwater and sewage management and are designed to mitigate the climate change problems of flooding caused by storm surges and progressive sea level rise.

Porirua City Draft District Plan

Our submission strongly supported the intent of the Strategic Direction and related provisions to protect and manage the health of the harbour. However, we suggested that both the Strategic Direction and supporting provisions needed to be more explicit and stronger, to help achieve the Strategic Intent.

Lindsay Gow was a member of an advisory committee on developing the Draft District Plan. The committee successfully advocated for the inclusion of water neutrality for all new and consented developments in the city. Alongside this are also provisions for water sensitive urban design.

Cooperation with Other Organisations

Plimmerton Farm Plan Change

GOPI is part of a group of organisations (Friends of Taupo Swamp, Porirua Harbour Trust and QEII Trust) which will make submissions on the the Streamlined Planning Process that has now resulted in a District Plan change to rezone and provide for urban development of Plimmerton Farm on the eastern side of SH1 north of the Plimmerton roundabout. The Porirua Harbour Trust will be making a submission on water, drainage and related ecosystem issues which will be endorsed and supported by GOPI.

Consultation

Harbour Strategy Review

Lindsay Gow and John McKoy gave advice to consultants appointed by Porirua City to review the Harbour Strategy and its Action Plan. This review is designed to make recommendations on the review of the Strategy to be completed this year.

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Lindsay attended meetings of the PCC led Joint Harbour Committee which meets to manage the Harbour Strategy. He also attended a workshop on the findings and recommendations of the Whaitua report.

Community Activities

Inlet Clean-up

The 2019 annual Inlet clean-up was held in November. The clean-up was jointly organised by GOPI and Conservation Volunteers New Zealand, with support from Plimmerton Rotary who provided a barbecue at the finish and whose members were among the volunteers out picking up rubbish. Paremata New World gave us their support by supplying the food for the barbecue. The clean-ups are invariably well supported by the local community and this one was no exception, with more than 70 volunteers taking part.

Local Authority Election Candidates’ Statements

This year we asked all local candidates for Greater Wellington and Porirua City to give us their views on:

● What problems and opportunities do you see in the protection and enhancement of the condition of the Pāuatahanui Inlet and its contributing catchment? ● What would you do about this if elected to the Council? ● Do you have anything else you want to say about the Inlet and its protection and enhancement?

We received answers from nearly all candidates and positive feedback from members.

Annual Photographic Competition

This was the 20th year of the photographic competition, but unfortunately the advent of ​ COVID-19 meant we had to cancel it after it had started. But any photos taken for this event can be submitted in the 2021 competition.

A successful workshop for young photographers was held by Destina Munro before the cancellation, so no doubt the skills learnt can be used in next year’s competition.

Triennial Cockle Count - 2019

This was the first year without John Wells managing the cockle count. He ran this very successful programme for 12 years.

Andre van Halderen took on the big task of organising the 2019 count, assisted by Janet and Ray Ryan who organised many of the supporting logistics. Warrick Lyon from NIWA took on the job of organising the data sheets and related instructions and oversaw the briefing and dispatch of volunteers on the day. We also had support from Greater Wellington Regional Council - GWRC (Jo Fagan who organised health and safety), Porirua City (Nigel Clarke, who organised data transcription), Conservation Volunteers and food for the barbeque from New World Paremata.

GWRC also pays for the costs of data analysis and reporting from NIWA. Despite delays caused by COVID-19 we have just received the draft report.

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The count, supported of course by the many GOPI and community volunteers, was most successful. Some sites couldn’t be either completed or accessed on the day, and these were subsequently measured by Andre and Caroline van Halderen helped by Committee members and also with the help of Tony Shaw, our past Chairperson.

The very good news is that the results show an increase in cockles of some 41% since the last 2016 survey. Other key findings are:

■ Most transects had higher or markedly higher total counts of cockles than in 2016. 2 ■ The highest number of cockles recorded per 0.1 m ​ quadrat was 279, substantially ​ higher than for previous surveys. 2 ■ Mean cockle density over the intertidal survey area was 38.1 per 0.1 m ​, slightly ​ higher than in 2013 (33.6); and noticeably higher than in 2016 (28.8). ■ The cockle population size estimates have increased 32.2% since 2016 and were the highest since 1976. ■ Most sites showed similar or increasing trends in total numbers of cockles. ■ The percentage of juvenile cockles in the population in 2019 declined slightly to 15.6% from a time-series high of 17.4% in 2016.

I would like especially to thank Andre and Caroline van Helderen, and Janet and Ray Ryan for all the work they did before, during and after the count, that led to this outcome.

Committee activities

Education Groups

Helen Reilly represented GOPI at regular meetings of groups involved in education concerning the Porirua Harbour. The purpose of these meetings is for all those involved to be aware of what programmes are being provided and to find opportunities to work together.

Pāuatahanui Lamb & Calf Club Day

Members of the committee were in attendance at the 2019 Lamb & Calf Club Day at Pāuatahanui School with a display promoting GOPI’s activities.

Harbour Edge Restoration

I reported in the April Newsletter that we have submitted an application to the DoC Community Fund.

The application involves restoration and enhancement with planting and pest control on coastal edge margins of key habitat areas of the Inlet. The project is supported by Porirua City Council and will involve significant community volunteer input.

We have applied for three years funding which will cost upwards of $200,000. The plan is to carry out coastal edge planting at Kakaho Estuary, Motukaraka Point, Camborne Walkway, the Horokiri Estuary, along the Te Ara Piko Walkway, and in Ivey Bay and Browns Bay. If successful, it should result in increasing improvements to the Inlet ecosystem in areas where degradation and weed invasion has occurred. These improvements should help return the Inlet to a more healthy state.

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We should know the result of our application in July, but that depends on DoC’s ability to process it by then.

Communications

We continue to be grateful to Michael Waldron for his work as Newsletter Editor and Webmaster.

Our treasurer Stephen O’Neil has taken on the task of administering a GOPI Facebook page.

Newsletter

We continue to receive favourable feedback about the newsletter, which we produce three times a year. Michael has researched and written feature articles which receive especially positive feedback.

Although The Inlet is designed as a newsletter for our members, we also send it to central ​ ​ government representatives for Mana, the Mayor, Porirua City Councillors and senior staff at Greater Wellington and Porirua City Councils, which helps keep issues of interest and concern in front of decision makers. We also send copies to the local residents’ associations and our fellow organization, the Porirua Harbour Trust.

Website

Our website www.gopi.org.nz continues to provide news, information and a record of our ​ ​ activities. Thanks again to Michael Waldron for keeping this active and up to date.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I heartily thank the committee for their hard work in sustaining our Guardians’ objectives to promote, protect, maintain and foster the natural ecological, historic and ​ ​ cultural values of the Pāuatahanui Inlet.

And of course I want to thank all members for their continuing support.

Lindsay Gow Chairperson June 24th, 2020

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